One minute we were kissing and the next Damien was on the other side of the room. His chest rising and falling as fast as mine was. His eyes glowing red on mine.

I put a hand to my chest. That kiss had moved my world and I was still trying to find my footing.

“Damien,” I whispered, trying to make sense of what just happened between us.

He shook his head. “That can’t happen.”

I swallowed. “Why?”

It had felt right. So right. Why was he talking this way?

“This can’t happen.” His words were fierce. And for a moment I saw Damien the demon, the one who had tormented me. Not Damien the Angel who had saved me.

I lifted a my fingers to touch my lips where his mouth had been only moments before. It had been my first kiss and totally unexpected. His reaction was marring the most profound thing that had taken place between us.

“Why?” I uttered the question again.

“I’m a Demon Tessa. At best an angel. This isn’t something that can be allowed to happen.” He moved his hand between us. “We are worlds apart. I’m not human.”

“But it happened.” Logic didn’t come into what I was feeling. If it wasn’t possible why did I still feel his lips on mine.

“It shouldn’t have.” His eyes red and intense.

I tried to keep a lid on the emotions racing through me. I didn’t want to show him how much I cared and how much his words hurt.

I shrugged dismissively. “It was just a kiss Damien. Don’t over react. It’s not like I’m planning a wedding and mapping out the rest of my life with you.”

“Good,” he sneered, making heart a little heavier. “Besides with that mark on your arm, we’ll be lucky if you last the month.”

And with that he reminded me of the grim reaper and my limited time.

“Thanks for the reminder,” I said dryly as I turned my back to him. My fingers touched the sensitive marred skin.

I felt him move closer even when I didn’t hear a thing.

“It’s best to concentrate on a way of stopping the reaper. That’s the most important thing we need to concentrate on now.”

And it’s best to forget about things that would complicate things. Like the kiss we had shared.

I heard, what he didn’t say.

He was right. What future could we really have? He wasn’t human. I had no idea if I would be able to evade death again.

Priorities Tessa. I told myself. I had to focus on the important things. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss or how I felt about him.

After his harsh reaction to the kiss had hurt my fledgling realization that somehow I had started to see him differently.

I turned and he was so close I swallowed as I stared up into his eyes. I could feel the air between us thicken and my gaze dropped to his lips and all I could think about was pressing my lips to his again. Losing myself in what I was feeling right there in that moment, consequences be damned.

But I didn’t. I stopped myself. Biting my lip to illicit pain to stop my mind from running wild with all the things I wanted but couldn’t have.

“So what do we do now?” I asked, very aware of how he was watching me.

He could say whatever he wanted but what I was feeling wasn’t one sides. He wanted me. I could see it in the way his attention dropped to my mouth. He was remember how it felt.

“I need to do some research but I can’t do it here. I’ll be back soon.”

For a moment I felt panic. I reached for his arm and held it tight.

“You can’t leave me. What if he comes back while you’re gone?” I asked.

“He wont.” He said with a surety I didn’t feel.

My hold tightened.

“I can’t take you with Tessa.”

“But…what if…” The fear I had held at bay began to take hold and there was no shaking it loose.

All I could see was the Grim reaper as he approached me, with a steady pace. Knowing I couldn’t run, knowing I couldn’t escape.

“If he comes for me while you’re not here, I can’t stop him Damien,” I pleaded.

For so long my will had been strong to withstand his constant badgering over the years but I felt far too weak to hold myself up right now. Not after everything I had witnessed. And not after finding out the reaper would be back for my soul.

“If I don’t go and try to find something. I won’t be able to stop him Tessa.” His tone was soft.

I nodded but I couldn’t let him go.

I released a shaky breath, trying to pull myself together.

“I won’t be long Tessa. But I have to go. If I stay here you’re as good as dead. You understand that?”

I nodded again. This time I released him. He was leaving, not to abandon me to my fate, but to figure out if there was a way to stop the reaper.

I clutched my hands together. I was a mess and there was no way to hide it.

“I will be back.”

If he said that to me before I wouldn’t have believed him or trusted him in any way but I knew that he meant it.

“Don’t be long,” I said, even though I was fighting the neediness in me.

He gave a brief nod and then he was gone.

Feeling shaky I sank down on the bed and tried to inhale a few deep breaths to keep the panic from taking over and making me irrational.

I had been through a lot of tough things and I had survived. This was just another obstacle. Damien would find a way to keep me safe. There was no other way, no other outcome.

I kept remind myself all the things I had been through and reminded myself how strong I had been to resist Damien over the years.

Finally after staving off the panic I got my school bag, intent on doing some homework.

But after trying for the next ten minutes to try make sense of what I was doing I finally shoved it to the side. How could I be expected to concentrate when I had so much going on?

I dropped my head into my hands. I had the urge to allow the emotions to swamp me and cry. The lump in my throat remained and I let out an emotional breath.

“Tessa?”

There was no way. My mind couldn’t process what I thought I had just heard.

I lifted my face from my hands and there in the middle of my room stood Parker. I blinked wondering if I was so upset I was seeing things that weren’t there.

“Tessa?” he said again.

But he was still there when I opened my eyes. He was Parker. The same smiling, eye glinting mischievously boy I had known so briefly yet I had cared for him like a long lost friend.

“Parker?” I whispered.

He wasn’t exactly the same. He wasn’t human. I was seeing his ghost.

He smiled, brilliantly at my acknowledgement of him. “You can see me.” He sounded relieved.

I nodded as I slowly slipped from the bed and approached him. “Yes.”

I wanted to reach out to touch him but he wasn’t solid, which reaffirmed that he wasn’t alive anymore.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, still mystified as to his presence in my room when I had watched the reaper take his soul only a few hours before.

He shrugged. “I saw the white light and everything but I couldn’t go to it.”

“Why?” I asked softly, afraid I would do something that would make him disappear.

He wasn’t the first ghost I had seen, or the first I had interacted with. But their presence was usually short and fleeting, but repetitive. It was something I had gotten so used to over the years.

But I didn’t want Parker to vanish. I had questions I needed him to answer.

His features turned serious. “I wasn’t ready to leave. I saw the reaper put the mark on your arm.”

Subconsciously I touched the mark.

“I couldn’t leave knowing that you might need my help.”